Hallandale Water Park Proposed

COMMUNITY NEWS

March 25, 1994|By JOE KOLLIN Staff Writer

HALLANDALE — Should the city build a water playground for children rather than repair the 40-year-old swimming pool at Dixie Park? Hallandale Parks and Recreation Director Joseph DeLuce has proposed a water park as an alternative to repairing the 179,000-gallon pool.

The park, DeLuce said, would use 18 inches of water rather than the six feet required in a pool.

Typical playground equipment, such as slides and climbing devices, would be placed in the shallow water.

DeLuce said the playground equipment could be used with or without water.

The concept is new and believed to be in operation only in Illinois. The city closed the Dixie pool in 1992 when the plumbing and filtering systems broke.

The estimated cost of repairing the pool: $300,000. The estimated cost of the water playground: $150,000.

Whether to repair the pool or replace it with the water park is emotional for residents of northwest Hallandale. Many northwest neighbors, especially longtime residents who recall the fun they had at the pool, are attempting to raise the $300,000 to repair it. The commission has given them until April 19.

Others in the northwest agree with City Manager R.J. Intindola that $300,000 to repair a pool that would cost $150,000 a year to maintain isn't justified, considering only 50 people a week were using it at the time it broke.

The water park, Intindola said, could be constructed in sections so it could start small and be enlarged only if children like it. City officials said a decision won't be made until this summer.

The initial reaction of city commissioners was mixed last week. Mayor Eudyce Steinberg liked the playground concept.

"I think you'll have a lot of kids using it, not the small number who came to the pool," Steinberg said. "The idea is fabulous, it sounds very new, very innovative."

"It could very well be a problem for children and the city," said Commissioner Arthur J. "Sonny" Rosenberg, a political opponent of Steinberg. "I just see a lot of problems with this."

"The liability problem is everywhere," Steinberg responded.

Commissioners, in a 4-1 vote, included the water playground in their tentative request for nearly $800,000 in grants from the Broward County Commission.